"Brother."
"Yeah."
He leaned back and looked at the bay through the window over the sink. Outside, the November light came in slant and cold across the apron.
"My mother's spaniel is overdue," he said. "She's been on me about it for a month."
I had the idea before he finished saying it.
"Take her to Astrid. I'll come with you."
He looked at me. The corner of his mouth pulled up.
"You serious?"
"Dead serious."
Halsey wandered in from the bay then, sleeves rolled up, the smell of diesel still on him.
"Are you eating those, Ford?"
"I'm eating 'em."
"You've been chewing the same one for a minute and a half."
"Christ. Does the whole shift have eyes?"
"Yeah."
He pulled a chair around to the corner of the island and hooked one ankle over the other knee.
"Are you talking about Astrid?"
"We're talking about Rhodes's mother's spaniel."
"Mhm."
A beat.
"My cat's overdue, too."
I looked at him. Halsey loved that cat. He carried her around the apartment like a baby on his off days. She was a gray tabby, nine years old, the only thing in Halsey's life he was not casual about.
"You'd bring her in?"
"For Ford? Yeah. For Astrid? Yeah."
"Mendoza's got that terrier," Duke said.
"He does."
"He's been complaining about her teeth for two months."
I rubbed my jaw.
"You're really going to walk into her clinic in uniform?"
"Straight off shift. We don't take a rig anywhere we don't need to take a rig."
